His Dark Materials

Twisted ways of Fate.

Instantly Clary darted down the forbidding hallway. It was damp and dingy and there was a faint smell of iron, blood and mud. Clary held the dagger shakily in her hand as she sprinted off into the darkness. Her head throbbed with bitter pain- she was repressing the horrid memories of Sebastian, and the thoughts that were trying to control her every action, word and mind.
She shook her head violently, "no turning back now."
Those words kept replaying on loop in her brain until they stuck there like glue.
She began to slow her pace when she proceeded into a fairly well lit corridor with yellow and grey drapes and parchments hanging from the sides on the walls. It smelt foul and inhumane. This was no place for the living.
And fate, began to take a turn for the worst. Suddenly her breath became sharp and short. After endlessly traveling corridor to corridor, room to room- hope was loosing its light.

The world was spinning, the tears endlessly ran down her cheeks, she spluttered and coughed as she ran, faster and faster into the winding hallways and up terrifying staircases. Clary came across a staircase which led to an upper platform, she paused and thought to herself; she shrugged.
"No time for thoughts."
She darted up the staircases, her face became hot and a dark peachy pink. Once she was at the last step, her legs couldn't hold her any longer. They shook viciously with pain and she began to collapse. Luckily, Clary held onto the dusty banister, under the dust it was painted metallic black and had human skulls carved on its ends. She shuddered as her fingertips touched it. At last, there was one last corridor to her left, it seemed fairly lit and in a strange condition. It went back to the way she came, where the window with forbidding shadows lay. Without a thought she sprinted towards it- and bounced back.

"Gah!" She cried.
Holding her forehead. The entrance had some sort of forcefield with a shimmering glaze which could only be seen by squinting the eyes. Clary held her breath for a moment and let out a heart heavy sob. She held her face, which looked a mess in her palms and miserably wept into them. After what seemed hours of tears and screams, her eyes wandered above and scanned the room she was in. Right in front of her was a glass table engraved with twirling runes and gold. Next to it was a bookshelf. She chewed the inside of her cheek and rummaged her hands through each book, eyeing each name and case. Her hand stopped at a particular one. She pulled it out and began to flick through the pages. Suddenly she stopped and flicked back a few pages. There, was a picture of a stele. She bit down on her lip hard in concentration and placed her hand on the picture. As if it were water, it began to ripple and her hand sank through, it then reappeared this time; holding the stele. She gasped and hurried to the forcefield and drew the rune. Slowly it faded and she cautiously stepped forward. She gasped one last time and ran.

Clary ran as fast as her legs could carry her, the adrenaline made her go faster than ever. Suddenly she felt the horrid plunge in her stomach and her eyes watered. Her vision blurred, she couldn't see where she was going. She felt herself trip over, and suddenly, a par of strong arms caught her. Slowly she looked up and through the tears she couldn't make out a face but could see the honey golden hair.
"Jace?" She whispered uncertainly.
With all the strength she had left in her, she reached up on her toes and planted an urgent, almost desperate kiss on his parted lips. She raised her arms and wrapped them behind his neck tugging on his hair. He returned the kiss, at first surprised and almost taken aback. Yet now, he slowly slid his arms around her waist.
"I missed you so-" she whimpered.
She slowly opened her eyes and suddenly the flew open. It was not Jace. It was Sebastian.

He chuckled to himself and pulled her tighter.
"See how easy you mistake him for me?" He laughed.
Placing his lips on hers once more. Clary stood paralyzed in shock, she couldn't move.
"I-" she said almost robotically.
Sebastian silenced her by kissing her again. The rune was taking its toll and working its way to her head, becoming stronger and stronger each second he held her in his tight grasp.
"Clary do you have any idea where we are?" He asked.
"No, no I-I don't."
He laughed despicably. Clary turned her head to the side and saw a room with no walls, but a shimmering layer which seemed to be a forcefield. At the end there was a large broken window. And inside were Isabel, Alec, Magnus, Jocelyn, Luke, Simon and Jace. They stared wide eyed at her. Isabel raised her hands over her mouth; her eyes were filled with utter shock.
Simons mouth clung open.
"C-C-Clary?" He stuttered.
In the corner of her eye, she saw Jace standing in the end of the room, his face a ghostly pale, still stained with dried blood. He barged towards her and Sebastian and banged head-first into an invisible forcefield. He clenched his fists an banged at it with a force it would seem it was going to break.
"What did you do to her!" He screamed with anger and hatred.
Sebastian smiled bitterly, Clary didn't move. She laced his fingers with his- all hope was lost, her mind was taken over by the rune. They turned to face the captives hand in hand. When Sebastian pulled her closer- she didn't struggle. Clary placed a hand on his chest adoringly and looked up at his face lovingly. Sebastian looked straight into Jace's fierce eyes and laughed once more.
"She did this on her own."

~End of Act I~